Welcome to Frank Pozen's Big Bad Blog. A lot of folks have been asking me to update them about my recovery. So I thought I would start a blog primarily to do that but also to talk about other topics of interest including the wrestling business and whatever else I can think of. I plan to update this on a regular basis so check back and leave a comment if you wish.

Monday, June 05, 2017

Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Kairi Hojo's Japanese farewell

Here is the video of Kairi Hojo's final Japanese match followed by the farewell ceremony from yesterday's STARDOM show at Shijuku FACE with 533 fans in attendance. As you all know by now, Kairi is coming to NXT and she will be in the upcoming women's tournament. Io Shirai also signed but because her decision was late, she will come after the tournament and do a farewell show similar to this. The match is Kairi Hojo, Konami and Hiromi Mimura vs Io Shirai, HZK and AZM. Hojo also did a gauntlet match. This video has the six girl match and the farewell ceremony. The match is OK but inconsequential. Kairi and Io do get a nice sequence together and Konami looks good as usual. For those who don't know, Konami is 21 years old and a protege of Asuka. Note the bare feet. She was trained by MMA legend Megumi Fujii. That's why Konami wrestles like a veteran. That's the result of proper training. The other three girls seem very green to me. Fans have been asking me about Hojo. Usually there are fears that were heightened when it was reported that she has been asked not to use her trademark elbow drop. I don't have a problem with the change because a flying elbow drop isn't a credible finisher anymore. Besides, I heard she plans to come up with a new finisher anyway. Will she keep her name? Kairi Hojo isn't her real name. Her real name is Kaori Housako. She's been using Kairi Hojo since she was a professional model before she got into pro wrestling. She may not care about the name. I dunno about the pirate gimmick. It depends if it can be copyrighted. She may want to change that too. A new name and gimmick wouldn't surprise me. My big concern about Kairi Hojo is she has suffered two concussions. The most recent concussion was Sept. 2016 and she told Tokyo Sports that she seriously considered retirement after that. I hope she passes the WWE physical. She also told Tokyo Sports that she consulted with joshi puroresu legend Bull Nakano when she got the WWE offer. I expect Kairi and Io to do well in NXT. But as we're seeing with Asuka, clear English is a big hurdle. Actually, Asuka's English is fine but she has a very thick accent. I don't know if the other two speak English. While waiting for events to unfold, enjoy the match and farewell ceremony video.